And the bush has friends to meet him, and their kindly voices greet him, In the murmur of the breezes and the river on its bars,
And he sees the vision splendid of the sunlit plains extended, And at night the wonderous glory of the everlasting stars.

Banjo Paterson (1889)

Thursday, July 1, 2010

Video - a Hemiergis in the garden

What's a Hemiergis? Often called Earless or Mulch skinks, with five of the six Australian species occuring in the southwest of Western Australia. This is a short video of Hemiergis initialis, known as the Southwestern Earless Skink, which is living in our garden. You can tell which species it is by counting toes and the colour of the belly. You can't see it, but this one has a bright yellow colour on the belly.

It's winter here in Perth and the Hemiergis are moving amongst the garden leaf litter during the day, though usually they are only active at night. They love wet cool conditions, so much that if you hold one in your hand too long it starts to get heat stress! The females have live young and sometimes speed up development by hiding in leaf litter with morning sun.

They are a nice little skink and I always love finding these guys when I'm gardening.


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